Pedro Pascal says filming The Last of Us season 2 "feels strangely brand new"

Pedro Pascal as Joel in The Last of Us — (Image credit: HBO)

Filming on The Last of Us season 2 is currently underway, and series star Pedro Pascal has an update on how things are going.

"Filming is going amazing," Pascal told Deadline at the SAG Awards, where he won the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Joel in the video game adaptation. "It’s sort of awe-inspiring the kind of focus and dedication that everyone has going into season 2."

"Stepping into those boots again, it feels strangely brand new," he said. "I’ve never done anything like this before that has such original authorship before I ever got to it. And then to be given the space to author what would I have to give and to be under Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann and alongside Bella Ramsey has been really the whole reason it works for me. I guess I’m learning something new every day, and I’ll be thinking about it probably for the rest of my life."

Pascal and his co-lead Bella Ramsey will be joined by a whole host of new faces for the next installment of the show, which will adapt the video game's sequel, including Booksmart's Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Madame Web's Isabela Merced as Dina, and Beef's Young Mazino as Jesse. Catherine O'Hara has also joined the cast, but we don't know who she'll be playing just yet.

Elsewhere at this year's SAG Awards, Succession was awarded Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series and The Crown's Elizabeth Debicki won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, while The Bear took home awards for Comedy Ensemble Performance and individual nods for its stars Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White.

In the movie categories, Oppenheimer's Cillian Murphy and Killers of the Flower Moon's Lily Gladstone took home the awards for Leading Male Actor and Leading Female Actor, while Oppenheimer's Robert Downey Jr. and The Holdovers' Da'Vine Joy Randolph took home the gongs for Supporting Performances.

The Last of Us season 2 is set to arrive on our screens in 2025. In the meantime, check out the rest of the biggest new TV shows on the way.

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.